Hiv Testing

Here's the thing - the choice of contraceptives now is quite baffling. I can see the mist of confusion settle on women's faces as I start working my way through the clinic leaflets, all about choice. I'm going to write this from the heart, having had 30 years experience as contraception lead for my team.

The other important factor is my day job. I am a sexual health doctor. I work in the clinics and do these tests day in and day out, for my patients. It should be water off a duck's back? In fact, it's all very well to give advice to other people, but when it happens to YOU, it suddenly feels very different.

Today's, it's less HIV and more HIV-related stigma that's the killer. Stigma brings people to my clinic who have been living with HIV for too long before diagnosis. And they haven't been diagnosed because they are scared, ignorant or isolated.

I was eventually diagnosed with HIV in 1996. I must have had about 20 or 30 negative HIV test results by then. It's not enough to know your last test was negative - if you've taken a risk since then, you could be living with undiagnosed HIV.

Not having an HIV test puts your life at risk, and those of others. So the message of this NHTW is very clear: we must reduce the stigma around HIV. Healthy people with HIV must talk about it; the general public must become educated about HIV; and we need to test as many people as possible.

In the 30 years I've had HIV, I never expected to feel sorry, tender even, for a Hollywood actor, let alone Charlie Sheen: wanting to give this hot man-mess a hug, clap him on the back, spur him on to sober up and start living with HIV rather than dying from the shame of it. I really hope Charlie's self-outing as HIV positive does mark his final emergence from whatever swamp of chaos he's been floundering in this last five years.

The perpetuation of the myth of the anonymous, promiscuous individual punished for their sexual appetite by an HIV diagnosis, and by being shunned by their friends and colleagues, is very sad to see - and entirely divorced from the reality of HIV in 2015.

We can achieve it by testing, so as to minimise the number of guys who don't think they have HIV, but do. We can achieve it by maximising viral suppression and getting as many HIV+ guys on treatment as possible. We can achieve it by using PrEP, not just because it works, but also to take the anxiety and rabbit-in-headlights paralysis out of gay dating.

It was a traumatic experience when I was diagnosed with HIV in January 2010. I had visited Birmingham that morning for a business meeting and rushed back to London. I was in a hurry as I had to return to the office.

There have long been significant and valid concerns that simply popping a testing kit in the post to an individual who may be vulnerable - and a positive HIV result can make anyone feel worried, to say the least - is not providing the support and care for which UK HIV clinics have rightly become world-renowned.

It's very simple: ignorance perpetuates stigma and stigma kills. In making the latest in a long series of ill-informed pronouncements, Nigel Farage seems to hark back to a dark period of history which we are all much better off leaving behind.

To those less acqainted with the workings of HIV, and more surprised by the news, you'd think this would be cause for celebration. In the gay community, however, the news was received by many with disbelief ("This is bullshit science" said one) or downright fear

Four years ago it was proven that if you give people HIV drugs and they take them, their chance of infecting someone else falls by at least 96%. It's stupid to drive into hiding the people you may need to treat to continue your fight against AIDS.

If you're going to make prejudicial remarks about anyone's health condition, and HIV is now considered a long-term manageable condition by the NHS, then perhaps Dr Lee should find out the facts first. So here is an open invitation to Dr Lee...

Now I have your attention. That was easy! Sex is a natural part of life, alongside other pleasurable functions of the body such as playing sport and eating, but is something that is not talked about enough in society which only exacerbates the stigma attached to many issues of sex.

So where are we on testing? Today we have a range of HIV tests that are able to identify the virus early and accurately, using a range of biological samples, with the results being available immediately or after a brief period.

This week is National HIV Testing Week, leading up to World AIDS Day 2013 on 1st December. The question is, how many of you were aware of this - and what can we do to enhance that awareness?
For too long, educational messages about HIV/AIDS, and about the way it is transmitted and prevented, have not been heard.

The next piece to the HIV puzzle in many ways, is about changing public perceptions. Out-of-date and negative attitudes to HIV can dissuade people from testing - and that's why one in four of those with HIV in the UK are not aware of their status. That's a really dangerous statistic.

Walking into the room, I saw eight people - predominantly doctors - and I could tell that at least five had already made up their minds to reject the project. It started predictably: "Well, we have spent a lot of time discussing this very interesting project, but have some significant concerns." That was why I was there - to allay their fears and get on with this important project. That was not to be.